Who Should Wear The 'A' Now?

Hi, everybody. I've been reading this blog for a year now and finally decided to make my own account here. Late last night, I began thinking about who should be our new alternate captain and wanted to see what you thought. Although I am not quite sure how the alternates are selected or what role(s) they serve, I know that they should be chosen carefully.

With the departure of Brad Richards, we have lost not only our top center, but also one of our alternate captains. Although the void has been filled in terms of the roster spot, the leaders of this team have yet to be announced. I think that it is safe to say that Morrow will still be the Captain. Robidas and Ott will also stay alternates next season in my opinion. While some clubs only have two alternates, it seems to me that the Stars would name a third, if for no other reason but because of the depth of character on this roster. After looking at our roster, I have personally narrowed it down to three names: Mike Ribeiro, Adam Burish, and Loui Eriksson. All of these names bring something different to the role that we could use.

Ribs has been, arguably, our best playmaking center since he came over from Montreal. As good as Brad was with the puck, Ribeiro was a wizard. I actually think that he could have been our best center over Richards except for his apparent aversion to shooting the puck. For all his skill though, Ribeiro is not the strongest in his own zone and it remains to be seen if he can rally a team around him ala Brenden Morrow. He also has a less than stellar reputation in the NHL, from his time in Montreal. He would not be a huge emotional leader like Morrow, but he could potentially be someone to be counted on and who could deliver. His well-known chemistry with the Captain could also be helpful.

Burish has only been here a year but his impact was extraordinary. He became as some put it, the emotional leader of the team. I recall seeing some talk, mostly in jest I believe, of him wearing the C for this year. While that may be a bit of a stretch, as I think that Morrow is an excellent Captain, Adam's impact on the team is no less profound. His injury down the stretch seemed to take the heart right out of the Stars more so than losing Richards, Benn, or Eriksson did. However, Burish will not produce much on the scoresheet. He is very similar in style to Ott, who is already an alternate. Again, he is still relatively new to the team so perhaps they should wait a season before putting even more pressure on him aside from the defensive and pentalty kill specialist he already is.

Loui Eriksson is the third name that I thought of. Loui, as seen yesterday in Brandon Worley's post, is possibly the best player that the Stars have right now. His defensive game is fantastic and to me could earn him a Selke or Lady Byng trophy sometime in the future. Afterall, he's been named the League's Most Underrated Player according to his peers and he finished third behind Martin St. Louis and Nicklas Lidstrom for the Byng. Not too shabby in my opinion. He is very good offensively as well. The downside, however, is that he has been known to be fairly quiet. While avoiding the spotlight does make him hard to remember for the opposition on the ice, can he help inspire this team as well? I think that this career Star has striking similarities to former Star Jere Lehtinen. Both were excellent to way forwards and both were rather quiet. Jere was an alternate in the past (not sure of when exactly) and it might be wise to give Loui a chance to fill the void left by Brad Richards even further. He's my personal choice but what do you guys think?